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| June 9, 2000 KEN
GREENE'S LEASE AND LAW LETTER Greetings once again, leasing colleagues! I have thus decided to somewhat limit my reporting of this type of information, and to focus more on the legal and legislative matters of interest, as well as association news. CURRENT DEVELOPMENTS IN LAW AND LEGISLATION: STATUS OF COMMERCIAL CODE ARTICLE 9: As of the date of this report, a total of 14 states have passed the new law, and 22 states have pending bills. Remember that the effective date of the new legislation is July 1, 2001, and that the legislation will be, for the most part, retroactive, though the revisions will not apply to actions, cases, or proceedings that commenced before the new law's enactment. Please see the next issue of The Monitor for a more comprehensive discussion of new Article 9, in an article co-written by the undersigned and Ms. Leslie Hawes for further specifics about the new legislation. STATUS OF BANKRUPTCY CODE REFORM: Congress is back in Washington this week. One major task is to reach a final agreement on the bankruptcy bill. Several issues remain to be resolved, most notably how to deal with the Senate-passed provision making debts arising from abortion clinic protests non dischargeable. Also in need of resolution are proposals exempting certain bad check claims from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act, and the issue of placing a limitation on the amount of retirement savings for wealthy debtors. Any one of these issues can still hang up the final agreement, especially if all are resolved in ways contrary to the way Senate Democrats and the White House would like. Republicans are trying to broaden the abortion language to make the exception to discharge similar to current law under section 523 (a). They also want to cap retirement savings at $1 million for certain debtors, so that excess amounts could be reached by creditors. Sen. Orrin Hatch is apparently still insisting on the debt collection provision, which would exempt some bad check collections from the Fair Debt Collection Practices Act. Another issue which being discussed is the $100,000 equity cap. It appears that negotiators have agreed on this dollar figure, which is the same as in the Senate bill, but some members of Congress would allow a debtor to protect the entire interest without the $100,000 limit if they have owned the home at least two years. Even if Congressional negotiators work out the substantive differences, there is still the major hurdle of finding an appropriate legislative vehicle for floor action. This is a challenge for the Republican leadership in both houses, as the window for non-appropriations measures begins to close for good on the 106th Congress. Theoretically, bankruptcy can be added to any bill that's ready to go. Last week, Congress sent the crop insurance conference report on to the President, after resisting efforts to attach the bankruptcy bill. Another possible vehicle, the electronic signatures conference report, is embroiled in its own controversy. The financial services industry (many of the same players involved in bankruptcy) now opposes the e-sigs bill. According to a report in the Congressional Monitor, at issue is a consumer protection provision, which requires consumers to electronically confirm a prior online financial transaction. For the agreement to be finalized, consumers would have to open and read the confirmation, which banks feel gives the consumer a chance to back out of the agreement or contract. The high tech industry has signed off on the provision and supports the bill; some financial services lobbyists however, would now rather see no bill than this version. Will it ever end? Your guess is as good as mine. OTHER BANKRUPTCY LEGISLATION DEVELOPMENTS: Last month, President Clinton signed into law the "Wendell H. Ford Aviation Investment and Reform Act for the 21st Century" containing ELA endorsed amendments to Sections 1110 and 1168 of the Bankruptcy Code. The newly enacted amendments overturn the erroneous court decision in the Western Pacific Airline case where the court misconstrued the intention of section 1110 and limited the lessors' rights to override the automatic stay and repossess lessor-owned aircraft. ELA endorsed the same changes to section 1168, the parallel provision in the Code governing rail. Good news for the leasing industry, and kudos to the ELA for its continuing lobbying efforts to resolve this previously troublesome issue! BUSINESS NEWS European American Bank, a commercial bank headquartered in Uniondale, New York, has agreed to purchase Fidelity Leasing, Inc. , a wholly owned equipment-leasing subsidiary of Resource America, Inc. FLI, located in West Chester, Pennsylvania. HPSC, INC. achieved a top ten ranking on Boston Globe Growth 50. With an impressive 55.74% average growth in profit during 1998 and 1999, HPSC. a leading non-bank provider of specialized financial services for health care practitioners, was ranked ninth on the Boston Globe Growth 50. The Boston Globe Growth 50 highlights the 50 fastest-growing companies in Massachusetts. CITIGROUP on May 22 announced that it has completed its previously announced acquisition of Copelco Capital, Inc., a leader in small ticket vendor leasing, from Itochu International, Inc. Copelco will operate as a strategic business unit of Citicorp Global Equipment Finance, Citigroup's equipment finance division headed by Mr. Sal Maglietta. PURE MARKETS, the leading online marketplace for significant equipment finance transactions, announced that the number of lessors using its marketplace has tripled to over 100 in just six weeks. Registered lessors include industry leaders such as KeyCorp Leasing, U.S. Bancorp Leasing & Financial, Firstar Bank, Safeco Credit Company and Transamerica Equipment Financial Services. Headquartered in San Francisco, Pure Markets has already listed over a quarter billion dollars in financing requests for major corporations leasing equipment from aircraft to cranes, and computer hardware to containers. INDUSTRY AND ASSOCIATION NEWS UAEL ANNUAL CONFERENCE: The ACE will be held in Lake Buena Vista , Florida, September 14-17. It is entitled "Learn to Use Your Magic for Greater Business Success." The agenda looks great, including a Farewell Dinner at Epcot Center with a Millennium celebration. Don't miss out. UAEL WEBSITE: We are still beta testing the new site. It looks FANTASTIC. Congratulations to the UAEL staff for its fine work. ELA ANNUAL CONVENTION: The annual convention will be held from October 22-25 at the Marriott Desert Springs Resort in Palm Desert, California. It is called "E-volving Realities." Look for the brochure in the mail. NAELB: The National Association of Equipment Leasing Brokers (NAELB) elected its officers for the upcoming term during the 10th Anniversary Annual Conference of the 800-member-organization held recently in Nashville, Tennessee. Officers re-elected to another term of office were Dee DiBenedictis, secretary, SunStar Equipment Leasing, DeBary, Florida, and Donna L. Cole, treasurer, Business Capital Leasing, Richmond, Virginia. Newly-elected Directors of NAELB are Bob Bell, CLP, Independent Leasing Associates, Cumming, Georgia, and Gerry Egan, TecSource, Inc., Raleigh, North Carolina. Additional NAELB officers and directors continuing their terms of office on the Board are: John L. Winchester, CLP, vice president, ComCo Equipment Leasing Group, Nashville, Tennessee; Gerald G. Oestreich, past president, Adir ondack Leasing Associates Ltd., Rensselaer, New York, Joseph G. Bonanno, legal counsel, attorney at law, Boston, Massachusetts and Barry S. Mark, Esq, CLP, advisory director, Berkowitz, Lefkovits, Isom & Kushner, Birmingham, Alabama That's it for now. Any
questions, please feel free to send an e-mail, or call us at (415) 925 0700. Kenneth
C. Greene & Associates Thank you. |
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